Literary Devices Flashcards
Alliteration
repetition of the same sound at the beginning of successive words
Anaphora
repetition of the same word at the beginning of two or more successive clauses
Asyndeton
omission of connecting words such as et or -que
Chiasmus
contrastive, crisscross word order, where words appear in the pattern A-B-B-A
Ellipsis
omission of a word or words that must be supplied to complete the sense; the omitted word is most often a form of esse
Litotes
expression an idea by negating its opposite
Metonymy
use of one noun for another that it suggests (e.g. Bacchus for vinum)
Preterition
a figure in which the speaker says that he is not going to talk about a certain topic, thereby bringing it to the attention of the audience
Simile
a comparison between two things expressed by using the words ut, sicut, velut, tamquam, qualis
Synchysis
interlocked word order, where words appear in the order A-B-A-B
Synecdoche
use of a part of something to stand for the whole object
Anastrophe
inversion of the usual order of words, such as placing a preposition after, instead of before, the word it governs
Polysyndeton
the use of unnecessary conjunctions
Zeugma
the use of a word in two connections, though strictly applicable only to one
